First, some states do fully ban automatic weapons, period. My state is one. There are three exceptions. Law enforcement, active duty military, and manufacturers engaged in repair and sale to in and out of state eligible customers (LEO/Military customers). We still get the occasional weapons stash turning up, sometimes imported from other states, sometimes smuggled into the country. Sometimes they are made here. But it's an even smaller problem than the rest of the states where the provisions of the 1934 NFA is in effect.

As for other civilized nations, there are more directly relative factors than the presence of firearms. Look at Switzerland. They are awash in guns, compared to us. Yet our firearm homicde rate is higher. Why? I can think of a few reasons I suspect, some cultural, some not. A direct comparison between Americans and X other country can never work, no matter what the subject, really. Even between the US and our neighbors, Canada, there are so many social differences, where do you even start?

The weapon's specific capabilities are rarely meaningful. The .50 is demonized as an anti-aircraft gun, when in reality, most deer rifles are about as dangerous, and capable of hitting a moving aircraft, and if you touch off a .50, anyone within a mile or more knows exactly where you are, so you're not going to be doing it for long. A mass-murderer with a rifle or a pistol, reloading every 10 shots instead of every 30, is not a meaningful restriction. Many of the 'reasonable gun control' proposals made, have no meaningful effect. The best kind of gun control that I think we can work on, is anything that gets guns out of the hands of criminals. Sting operations for straw purchasing rings. Maybe some registration, if we can work out something for the people who think bans will automatically follow any registration. Sequential sentences for gun violence, not concurrent sentences. There's a lot we can do that will leave bad people with no access or very very difficult access to guns without pissing off hunters, sport shooters, collectors, self-defense gun owners, etc.

Reasonable regulation does not require head to head confrontation. Confrontation strengthens groups like the NRA, who use fearmongering to garner support.

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